The Last Match
by Tippy.LaRoux
Summary: Main character: Emma Vanity. Slytherin Quidditch Team - Captain 1972-1976. This is the last match for both teams (1976 is Emma's last match ever). It takes place Saturday May 8th. Emma is the Seeker, and attempts to manipulate her team into one final win!


Standard:

THC - Hufflepuff - 2nd year

W/C: 750-1500 words - ACTUAL: 1160 (google docs)

[Event] Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff Quidditch match

It was finally warming up. The last bits of ice had melted from Black Lake a few weeks ago, and the daffodils were bobbing their heads happily in the breeze along the rock path leading down to the pitch. The Puffs were not a team to be trifled with this year, what with their Chasers leading them to victory in each of their other three matches. But Anna Vanity was not going down without a fight. And, she had a few tricks up her sleeve for the current points leader. Being the best Seeker this school had seen since McGonagall left in the 1950s, she knew all the power rested in her capable hands.

Walking out onto the field for the last time she tried to memorize every detail. The stands were, predictably, split between those wearing green, and the rest of the school. Of course they would root for the team that had been dominating this year. She didn't expect anything less from her fellow classmates.

Before she knew it, the whistle blew and the match began. Pushing firmly from the ground, she shot up into the azure sky. Searching from her perch far above the crowd, she kept watch over the chaos of the match below her, but her focus was on finding the Snitch. Moments later, she catches a glimpse of the tiny golden ball flitting around, glinting in the sun.

"Tom, watch out for the Beater on your left," she yells at the fourth year down below. Being captain, she uses her position to her advantage. She can watch every play unfold from up here. Tom rolled to the side just in time, and flung the quaffle through through the center hoop after first fading to the right.

"Ten points for Slytherin!" Boomed the announcer's voice. An enormous cheer rang out from the Slytherin section. As Tom flew by the stands, his housemates let out a collective, "Hiiiisssssss" to cheer him on. They needed to beat the Puffs by at least eighty points to go ahead of them in the standings. Otherwise, they would win the game, but the Puffs would beat them in the standings.

Flying over to the Puff seeker, Anna put her best game face on. "Hey, Samuel. So, I hear Becky is with some other guy now. Maybe after the game we could grab a couple butterbeers to celebrate my victory." Flinging her platinum blond hair over her shoulder, Anna stared at Sam with eyes as blue as the sky around her. Licking her lips, Anna knew her fellow seeker was looking at her, and not the snitch she had just spotted flitting around his head.

"Anna, while that sounds delightful, I'm not sure you should count your dragons before they are hatched. You Slytherins have quite a lot of ground to cover in order to have a chance at beating us." Sam did his best to sneer in her direction, but she had been on the receiving end of those from her father since she was in nappies. It was almost adorable, the little Puffer trying to act all tough.

"You wish I would be seen in public with you," she shot back over her shoulder as she streaked away after catching sight of the snitch at the other end of the pitch.

"Look out, Anna. Coming in hot!" Davey yelled as he looped around her, heading for the goal hoops. Just as he cleared her, a Bludger came careening toward her head from somewhere above. Looking up, she caught sight of Sam, pointing out a pair of stocky beasts in yellow robes. Anna whipped her broom around and flew right towards the pair, as though she were a bowling ball and they were the last two unfortunate pins left at the end of the alley. They would live to regret singling her out. In their haste to move from her path, they crashed into each other, and she brushed past them as they struggled to stay astride their brooms.

"Hey, Bronn," she leaned over her shining Nimbus X after pulling up alongside her best beater. "You see those two up there?" She pointed to the Puffs who had finally rightyed themselves and were now circling the pitch. "I want them sorry they ever learned to fly by the end of the match." There was an icy glare in her eyes that was not to be argued with. Bronn understood his captain, and went around to make her wish, his command.

The play continued on for a grueling two hours before either Seeker saw the telltale winking golden light that could harken the end of the match. She needed her team to score one more goal before she caught the Snitch.

"Okay, boys, it's time for the Vanity Calamity!" She waited until the team joined into a formation that would make it nearly impossible for the Falmouth Falcons to stop, let alone the Hufflepuff Hogwarts team. This play really only worked when the Snitch was hanging around the opposing team's goal hoops. She was right up behind the center Chaser. It was unlikely that anyone from the stands could see where she was. That was the key.

"Alright, folks, it looks like we have some major activity from the Slytherin team! The Quaffle is in Tom's hand. No, wait, he flipped it to Octavious, who sent it back to Tom? Now, the Beaters have joined in the race to the other end of the pitch." The three Chasers lined up in a "V" formation. The quaffle was being passed between them, from one to the other so fast even she had a hard time keeping track of who had it. The Beaters looped around them, making sure the Bludgers were not able to interfere with the intricate passing of the Quaffle.

"Okay, guys, it has to be Tom who goes to the left hoop!" She had to shout to them over the deaffening "Hiiiiisssss" coming from the Slytherin cheering section. "On my count. One. Two. GO!" On go, Tom took the Quaffle, and expertly shot to the left hoop, scoring the second to last points in the game.

"Tom has done it again! Slytherin now leads 270 to 190!" The Slytherin section went absolutely wild. "Wait, folks. It looks like the Slytherins are dismounting their brooms?" The crowd was silent, murmur began to speed around the stadium.

"Oh, no, what is that in Captain Anna's hand? Is that? Why yes! It is the Snitch! Slytherin wins the match! 320 to 190!" Most of the crowd was silent, except her section. "Looks like we have a new points leader! Can Gryffindor or Ravenclaw overtake the commanding lead Slytherin now has in points? We will have to wait until the last match of the season!"

Anna landed on the grass, looking around the pitch one last time. Her teammates put her up on their shoulders to carry her on one last victory lap.


End file.
